Koda by Kira Graham – A Book Review

Posted October 14, 2019 by Booksandblurbs in PNR, Reviews / 1 Comment

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Koda: A Bear Shifter Romance

by Kira Graham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shifter Romance, 5 book Collections
Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited

Down and Dirty

This is a decent Shifter Romance collection for a decent price, or Free if you use Kindle Unlimited.

What is it about?

(Blurbs from GoodReads)

Bad boys are great. Good boys are overrated. Wild boys… they’re just another species entirely. Join the Koda Clan where the men are wild, the women are naughty and the hot romance is as sweet as it is spicy.

WARNING: Sexy, steamy, and crazy funny. You’ve been warned 😉

Love Me

Trace Koda is a man I hate.

I’m terrified of what I feel for Trace. I’m angry. I’m so hopelessly in lust with him my thoughts should be illegal. He hurt me and my family and yet all it takes is one touch and I forget all the hate I felt for him. He lures me in, enthrals me and makes me want like I never have before. I shouldn’t be with him but I think, maybe I just met my soul mate.

Keep Me

I loved Jayson Koda…once.

He was my everything. The sun. The stars. The air I breathed. We married in a rush ceremony not long after he knocked me up and I thought that love would last forever. How wrong I was. Now I am forced to see him to fulfil a deal I made to see my son. But when I found out that he’s been lying to me all along, I don’t know if I can forgive him. Maybe passion will heal the past? I hope so. Something needs to.

Take Me

Love isn’t real.

I thought I was in love once but it turned out, monsters look like angels and they know just how to lure you in. I don’t have enough left to look at Jacob Koda and trust in his words, but I wish I did. He’s beautiful and dark and he would be perfect for me, if he wasn’t so all out intent on driving me away. I didn’t expect to fall in love with him. Hopefully this man I now see houses a deep dark animal inside, feels enough to keep me.

Want Me

Love is a fairy tale, and I don’t read.

I fell in love once and I lost. I lost my love, my dreams, the hope that I needed to keep me going. When Dean died in a car accident, I wanted to rail at the world. Instead, I raised our daughter and promised to never want more. But when I lose my job and we’re on the road to eviction, I get an offer I can’t say no to. Prince Koda is the last thing I need clouding up my airspace. He’s cocky, smug and too sweet for me to hate; but like I said, I don’t believe in fairy tales and Prince Charming can keep his lips to himself. Until, I need those lips to save my life.

Save Me

I’m an alien. Human. Broken.

When this whole destiny thing started I thought I was in for the ride of my life. Hot men, perfect love. It was a recipe for mischief the likes of which would take me to the stars. It ended with a bullet to the back, the loss of my sight and a pitying look in the eyes of the first man I have ever truly wanted. I know he’s not all human. West Koda is more animal than man and once upon a time, I wanted all that savage wildness directed at me.

Thoughts on Koda

I have so many thoughts when it comes to this collection – probably too many. Overall, this is a decent set of shifter romances, filled with humor, snark, heat and an edge of adventure that makes the plot crash forward. All that said…. there are issues. Issues!! First, it feels like there should be another set of books somewhere, though searching the author reveals nothing. Second, it needs a solid editing session – though only for minor blips that harm the narrative.

The good to… not so good Koda.

Of the five stories presented, 3 and 4 are my favorite, while I hated 2… HATED it! Mainly because Jayson is a jerk. He may be a Koda and there may be some reasonable explanations for his actions…. but no. I hated him. Reasons aside, he is horrible. Flat out, horrible.

The other stories make up for this blip in the flow though, offering a cohesion that kept me reading. The others were decent, though it started to feel confusing and slapped together as the pages dragged on.

But what??

Vivi smashes onto the scene and suddenly takes up far more of the plot than seemed logical… then stole it straight out from under the other characters. When you get to book 4, that starts to make sense, but book 5 takes that and shakes it lose, introducing even more characters you get the impression you should know… and don’t.

Seriously, who is Hannah? And WHY is she all knowing? How does King know her? And speaking of King, that boy got short changed in the story department. He’s there, and we go through his drama and trauma, but it’s wrapped up in the romance of Vivi and West…. while the Alpha fully deserves his own book. Ugh.

Finally

All in all, it was alright – if very, very confusing. Answers are thrown at the end, but in a slap shot kinda way, almost like the plot wasn’t really decided before hand and the author decided, “Hey… this should explain things” while not really explaining anything at all.

Regardless of this impression, there is something about these books that kept me reading – even when I was ready to toss it after suffering through book 2. Maybe it was the metaplot, maybe it was the characters, or maybe it was the irreverent sense of snark all the women seemed to posses. Eh… who knows? 😉

Perspective

First Person, MULTIPLE POV…. too many POV… don’t ask.

Ending Type

HEA for each book, final HEA at end of Book 5… though we still don’t know what the fuck is really going on, or why.

Rating

R to NC-17, things get violent and oh so dirty.

Romantic Dynamic

M/F… x 5.

Character Age Range

Hell, I don’t know. Adult all though.

Verdict

For the price, either free or just a buck or two, this is a worthwhile investment of your time – even if you’ll want to pull your hair out at times. The Koda Collection is confusing, but damn fun, presenting strong Alpha females who take no shit and are more likely to kill you than love you. Free on KU.

Published September 9th, 2019
1453 Pages